Editorial

Of that political syrup

Published

5 years ago

2020/12/24

Thursday 24th December 2020

The Ayurveda Department has, in what may be described as a surprising move, approved the untested Dhammika peniya or syrup, which is being flaunted as a cure for COVID-19. Cabinet Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana has revealed this, according to the lead news item in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper.

Opinion on any issue is divided along political lines, in this country. The Dhammika peniya has become so politicised that it can now be called a political syrup as it were. A section of the government is promoting it aggressively, and its rivals are ridiculing it as ‘engine oil’.

The ruling party grandees known for wrapping themselves in the flag have, true to form, mixed their brand of patriotism with the untested syrup. They seem to believe that they have beaten the West to it, as the western medical system has so far failed to find a cure for COVID-19. They are living in cloud cuckoo land, using as they do the controversial decoction to power their anti-Western campaign, and anyone who refuses to subscribe to their view becomes a traitor in their eyes. Similarly, rational thinking is alien to their rivals, who think the West is the best and have nothing but contempt for anything Sri Lankan. They are using the Dhammika peniya to fuel their smear campaign against the government, which is their bête noire because it is backed by nationalistic forces.

One should not look down upon native medicine, and similarly one should not make the mistake of ingesting decoctions prepared by native physicians sans any credentials. One has to keep an open mind and act rationally. Time was when the native medical system flourished, but it suffered irreversible setbacks during the colonial era, and precious little has been done by way of scientific research to develop it since Independence. This has helped quacks masquerade as native physicians.

One may argue that the real issue as regards the coronavirus-cure controversy is that the Dhammika peniya has more to do with a divine revelation than with native medicine because the person who produced it is a kapuwa (custodian of a shrine) who claims to have been communicating with a goddess. The question that should be posed to the ‘patriots’ promoting the syrup is why the truly Sri Lankan Gods believed to be watching over this land have not revealed the ‘cure’ for COVID-19.

Is it that the Ayurveda Department has had to approve the Dhammika peniya because the Health Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, Ministers, a host of ordinary MPs and other such worthies have already endorsed it by ingesting it? If the syrup had not been granted approval by the Ayurveda Department, the aforesaid grandees would have found themselves in an embarrassing position.

A drug, allopathic or homeopathic or otherwise, has to be tested scientifically before being approved. To approve a drug and then conduct tests thereon is to put the cart before the horse. Perhaps, Dr. Pathirana should explain the rationale behind the reverse order which the Ayruveda Department is reported to have adopted if what one gathers from his statement at issue is anything to go by.

Wet city, dry cops

We received a large number of calls from our readers, yesterday evening, complaining that it had taken them as long as three hours to travel across the Colombo city as traffic was grinding nose to tail, on most roads, especially the ones that lead to the airport expressway from the city centre. We independently verified those claims and found them to be true.

The number of vehicles entering the city has drastically decreased due to the pandemic and the police must be able to ensure a smooth flow of traffic without difficulty. But they seem determined to keep roads congested. Yesterday’s traffic snarl is a case in point. True, there was a cloudburst and some roads went under water, but the actual cause of unusual traffic congestion was something else. Gridlocks that crippled most parts of the city were due to the absence of the traffic policemen at the main intersections, where private buses and trucks ignored signal lights and caused mayhem.

Some of our readers informed us that several traffic policemen stood knee deep in water to prevent congestion at the Thunmulla Junction. Such police personnel deserve not only praise but also rewards. If they can do so, why can’t others? Those who chose to stay indoors while traffic was snarled up must be taken to task. A group of office workers travelling in a van complained that they had been stuck in a traffic jam at Armour Street, Kotahena, for nearly one hour. After we made inquiries from the Armour Street police station, the road was cleared in less than five minutes! Why could not they do so earlier?

It is the duty of the traffic police and the transport authorities to ensure that people spend the least possible time inside public vehicles, where they run the risk of being exposed to coronavirus. Yesterday, they had to spend several hours inside buses and vans unnecessarily because the traffic police personnel, save a few, did not want to get wet.

New Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera, a former battle-scarred veteran who intrepidly engaged the Tigers in fierce sea battles and prevailed while in active service, and straightened up the Civil Defence Force after his retirement, ought to ensure that the traffic policemen are out when roads get congested, rain or shine. We suggest that a hotline be set up for road users to make complaints against the traffic police and action taken against errant officers.

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Editorial

Jekylls and Hydes

Published

4 hours ago

2025/12/29

Sahan Weerasooriya

Monday 29th December, 2025

Sri Lankan politicians love the media dearly and take up the cudgels for the rights of journalists when they are out of power. The JVP/NPP leaders also defended the media to the hilt while they were languishing in the Opposition. Jekylls become Hydes after being ensconced in power, with the media exposing their failures and malpractices. Those who can, do; those who cannot, attack the media, one may say of the governments in this country, with apologies to Bernard Shaw.

The JVP-led NPP government, angered by bad press, is all out to intimidate the media it cannot control. Previous governments had the police on a string and used them to attack and harass independent journalists. The incumbent administration has gone a step further; the police have reportedly written to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), asking for action against Hiru TV for what they describe as broadcasting unverified, misleading news. Thus, the government has used the police to give Hiru a choice between toeing the official line and losing its licence. Thankfully, its efforts have run into stiff resistance, with media institutions and various associations circling the wagons around Hiru.

If the government thinks Hiru or any other media institution disseminates false information to the detriment of its interests, legal avenues are available for it to seek redress. The police must not be used as a political tool to intimidate the media.

Among the current defenders of the media are the SLPP, the UNP, the SLFP, etc. Their leaders are shedding copious tears for Hiru. But it was while the UNP and SLPP leaders were in power that the suppression of media freedom and violence against journalists became institutionalised for all intents and purposes. UNP governments not only throttled media freedom but also murdered journalists. SLFP regimes had media institutions attacked and journalists killed. An SLFP-led government, with the current SLPP leaders at the helm, had media institutions torched and journalists abducted, assaulted and murdered. These sinners currently in the political wilderness are condemning other sinners in power for suppressing media freedom.

The government deserves the bad press it gets. The police have been reduced to a mere appendage of the JVP/NPP. Two of the NPP’s Retired Police Collective members, namely former Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne and former SSP Shani Abeysekera, have been appointed Secretary to the Public Security Ministry and CID Director, respectively. Absurd claims the police make in defence of the government remind us of Matilda, whose dreadful lies made one gasp and stretch one’s eyes.

When the police were asked why NPP MP Asoka Ranwala had not been subjected to a breathalyser test immediately after a recent road accident he caused, they had the chutzpah to claim they had run out of test kits. They transferred two of their officers over the incident to enable the government to save face. They arrested one of their own men assaulted by an NPP MP following a recent police raid on a cannabis cultivation in Suriyakanda. Acting just like legendary King Kekille, they let the MP off the hook and arrested the policeman, who was bailed out; they went on to suspend him from service. A few months ago, they unashamedly sided with a group of JVP cadres who stormed a Frontline Socialist Party office in Yakkala and forcibly occupied it. They go out of their way to ensure that the arrests of drug dealers with links to the Opposition get maximum possible publicity, but they do their best to keep the media in the dark when narcotics dealers with ruling party connections are taken into custody. They crack down on Opposition politicians and activists but steer clear of government members and their supporters. The despicable manner in which they are doing political work for the government reminds us of the Gestapo. Now, they are zeroing in on Hiru TV at the behest of their political masters for exposing their sordid actions.

The only way the NPP government can overcome problems and challenges on the political front and shore up its crumbling image is to mend its ways and fulfil its election pledges while taking action against its errant members who have brought it into disrepute and turned public opinion against it. Shooting the messenger is not the way to set about the task.

Editorial

Executive brinkmanship

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/28

Thilina Walpola

Pressure is mounting on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to ensure that an Auditor General is appointed without further delay. But he has remained unmoved. He is determined to wear down the Constitutional Council (CC) and appoint one of his party loyalists as Auditor General. The CC has rejected his nominees—and rightly so; they are not eligible. Former Executive Presidents went all out to railroad the CC into rubber-stamping their decisions. They had no qualms about doing so while claiming to uphold the independence of the public service. President Dissanayake has failed to be different. His refusal to compromise amounts to brinkmanship; he is waiting until the CC blinks.

The NPP’s election manifesto, A Thriving Nation: A Beautiful Life, attributes the deterioration of the public service to ‘political appointments’ and state workers making political decisions. Among the steps the NPP has promised to take to straighten up the public service are ‘merit-based appointments and promotions’. This principle has fallen by the wayside where the question of appointing the Auditor General is concerned.

The government should take cognisance of the possible negative effects of the prolonged delay in appointing the Auditor General during a period of disaster response and international relief and rebuilding support.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has called upon President Dissanayake to appoint a person with proven competence, integrity, and independence, who commands wide acceptance as Auditor General forthwith. It has stressed the need to appoint a nonpartisan professional as the Auditor General to safeguard the integrity of the National Audit Office and inspire the confidence of both citizens and international partners in the financial governance of the State.

Transparency International Sri Lanka, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the other good governance activists, too, have faulted President Dissanayake and his government for the inordinate delay in appointing the Auditor General. They are of the view that a strong, independent Auditor General enables Parliament and the public to scrutinise government expenditure, identify irregularities, prevent misuse of funds, and ensure that those entrusted with public resources are held to account. The delay in appointing the Auditor General has weakened the effectiveness, authority, and the independence of the entire public audit system and created space for inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption, they have noted. The situation will take a turn for the worse if the government succeeds in having one of its cronies appointed Auditor General.

The government is apparently playing a waiting game in the hope that the reconstitution of the CC due next year will provide a window of opportunity for it to appoint one of its loyalists as Auditor General.

Why the government is so desperate to place a malleable person at the helm of the National Audit Office is not hard to understand. If it succeeds in its endeavour, the next Auditor General will be beholden to the JVP/NPP. When an ineligible person is elevated to a high post, he or she naturally becomes subservient to the appointing authority. Such officials go out of their way to safeguard the interests of their political masters in case of irregularities involving state funds and other accountability issues.

A protracted delay in appointing the Auditor General or the appointment of a government supporter to that post will increase the risk of mismanagement of state funds and corruption, lead to the erosion of public trust and confidence in the National Audit Office, undermine legislative oversight and impair fiscal discipline. Most of all, the government’s failure to appoint a competent, independent person of integrity as Auditor General will diminish donor confidence especially at a time when the country is seeking disaster relief funds from the international community. There is no way the government can justify its refusal to appoint the current Acting Auditor General as the head of the supreme audit institution. He is obviously the most eligible candidate.

Editorial

Selective transparency

Published

2 days ago

2025/12/27

Thilina Walpola

Saturday 27th December, 2025

The NPP government has released a cordial diplomatic letter from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and gained a great deal of publicity for it as part of a propaganda campaign to boost Dissanayake’s image. Such moves are not uncommon in politics, especially in the developing world, where the heads of powerful states are deified and their visits, invitations and letters are flaunted as achievements of the leaders of smaller nations. However, the release of PM Modi’s letter to President Dissanayake is counterproductive, for it makes one wonder why the government has not made public the MoUs it has signed with India?

PM Modi’s Sri Lanka visit in April 2025 saw the signing of seven MoUs (or pacts as claimed in some quarters) between New Delhi and Colombo. Prominent among them are the MoUs/pacts on the implementation of HVDC (High-Voltage Direct Current) Interconnection for import/export of power, cooperation among the governments of India, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates on developing Trincomalee as an energy hub, and defence cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.

The NPP government has violated one of the fundamental tenets of good governance––transparency; there has been no transparency about the aforesaid MoUs or pacts, especially the one on defence cooperation. They cannot be disclosed without India’s consent, the government has said. This is a very lame excuse. The JVP/NPP seems to have a very low opinion of the intelligence of the public, who made its meteoric rise to power.

When the JVP/NPP was in opposition, it would flay the previous governments for signing vital MoUs and pacts without transparency. But it has kept even Parliament in the dark about the MoUs/pacts in question.

Ironically, the JVP, which resorted to mindless violence in a bid to scuttle the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987, has sought to justify the inking of an MoU/pact on defence cooperation between Sri Lanka and India and keeping it under wraps, about three and a half decades later. The signing of that particular defence MoU/pact marked the JVP’s biggest-ever Machiavellian U-turn. How would the JVP have reacted if a previous government had entered into MoUs with India and kept them secret? It opposed the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between Sri Lanka and India tooth and nail, didn’t it?

Whenever one sees the aforesaid letter doing the rounds in the digital space, one remembers the MoUs/pacts shrouded in secrecy, which have exposed the pusillanimity of the NPP government, whose leaders cannot so much as disclose their contents without India’s consent.